Black Abolitionist Archive

Title: Edward Wilmot Blyden

Speaker or author: Blyden, Edward Wilmot, 1832-1912.

Newspaper or publication: African Repository

Inaugural speech given at the founding of the first college in West Africa. The speaker stressed the importance of education in the formation of Liberia.

Description of file(s): PDF 22 page, 8,619 word document (text and images)

Title: Edward Wilmot Blyden

Speaker or author: Blyden, Edward Wilmot, 1832-1912.

Newspaper or publication: African Repository

The speaker described life in Africa with the U.S. colonization efforts taking place there. He encouraged freed slaves to immigrate and participate in the colonization of Liberia and Ethiopia.

Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 1,331 word document (text and images)

Title: John Sweat Rock

Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866

Newspaper or publication: Christian Recorder (1852 - 1856)

Brief overview of a speech regarding the refusal of the government to arm and accept as soldiers African Americans during the Civil War. This situation would alter as the war neared its end.

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 440 word document (text and images)

Title: Henry Highland Garnet

Speaker or author: Garnet, Henry Highland, 1815-1882

Newspaper or publication: Douglass' Monthly

The speaker argued that prejudice and acts of violence against the free people of color in the northern states was instigated by southern extremists in an effort to disrupt the union and encourage unrest. He accused northern newspapers and unjust journalism (fed by southern sympathies) for the current violence against black Americans in the north.

Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 844 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech addressing the issue of emancipation for the slaves and the struggle within the government regarding how to handle this issue.

Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 1,202 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech regarding the question of expatriation and what to do with freed slaves once the Civil War was over. The speaker believed that slavery would end with the end of the war, but he could see the potential problems in a future society including newly freed slaves.

Description of file(s): PDF 6 page, 1,757 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

The speaker addresses the question of what to do with the slaves if they are freed. Although some people had cautioned that the slaves would be lost without slavery, the speaker offered various examples of how they would be and aleady were capable of prospering as free citizens.

Description of file(s): PDF 15 page, 4,233 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

The speaker addressed the issue of the competence and intellectual abilities of African Americans. He offered a rebuttal on the idea that freed slaves would be unable to take care of themselves. He emphasized a historical perspective on the intellectual ability of the Negro race to not only survive but to prosper independent of European influence.

Description of file(s): PDF 14 page, 3,770 word document (text and images)

Title: John V. DeGrasse

Speaker or author: DeGrasse, John V., 1817-ca.1866

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Overview of brief acceptance speech delivered after the speaker was presented with a portrait of John T. Hilton.

Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 262 word document (text and image)

Title: Henry Highland Garnet

Speaker or author: Garnet, Henry Highland, 1815-1882

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

The speaker rejoiced that slavery was at that point no longer national but "sectional" since it had just been abolished in Washington, DC. He also noted that a recent bill had passed prohibiting slavery in the Territories of the U. S.

Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 298 word document (text and image)

Title: James N. Gloucester

Speaker or author: Gloucester, James N.

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Brief speech in which the speaker expressed his enthusiasm and optimism regarding the nearing end of slavery.

Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 307 word document (text and image)

Title: Samuel Green

Speaker or author: Green, Samuel, Rev.

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Brief overview of an anecdotal speech regarding one man's experience with slavery.

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 417 word document (text and images)

Title: John Sella Martin

Speaker or author: Martin, J. Sella (John Sella), b. 1832

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech delivered before an English audience recognizing the efforts of the National Anti-Slavery League and its members in the fight for universal abolition of slavery.

Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 949 word document (text and images)

Title: John Sella Martin

Speaker or author: Martin, J. Sella (John Sella), b. 1832

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Sermon delivered during a celebration of the anniversary of the emancipation of the British West Indies. The speaker emphasized the error in moral judgment made by a country that condoned laws like the Fugitive Slave Law. He compared the plight of the slaves in the U.S. with that of slaves in ancient Egypt. He noted that the poor whites were not treated any better than the slaves were regardless of their skin color. The war for freedom was, to the speaker, a holy war for human liberty.

Description of file(s): PDF 15 page, 4,523 word document (text and images)

Title: Robert Morris

Speaker or author: Morris, Robert, 1823-1882

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech given after presentation of a portrait of John T. Hilton was given to the Masonic Lodge. The speaker stressed that while this was "...our first effort to transmit to posterity a portrait of any of our public men...", he regretted that portraits of other African American heroes had not been included in this effort.

Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 1,095 word document (text and images)

Title: William Cooper Nell

Speaker or author: Nell, William C. (William Cooper), 1816-1874.

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech delivered at a commemoration of the death of Crispus Attucks, the first man killed at the beginning of the American Revolution. The speaker expressed his views about the causes of the current civil war and his beliefs in a positive resolution to the fighting.

Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 674 word document (text and images)

Title: Charles Lenox Remond

Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Brief speech in which the speaker expressed his dismay that African Americans were not welcomed into the army to fight for their own freedom. He noted that they had fought in 1776, but now were not permitted to bear arms.

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 361 word document (text and images)

Title: John Sweat Rock

Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

The speaker emphasized that the fight for freedom during the Civil War would be won through the work of the abolitionists. He then went on to praise two abolitionists in particular.

Description of file(s): PDF 11 page, 3,196 word document (text and images)

Title: John Sweat Rock

Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech regarding the influence the question of abolition has on decisions being made within the government during the Civil War. The speaker expressed his views about the war and its possible outcome.

Description of file(s): PDF 17 page, 5,123 word document (text and images)

Title: John Sweat Rock

Speaker or author: Rock, John S. (John Sweat), 1825-1866

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech delivered during a celebration of the August 1st anniversary of the emancipation of the British West Indies. The speaker noted that it was only a matter of time before the U.S. would also abolish slavery. He stressed the challenges of prejudice, lack of education and unemployment that lay ahead for African Americans when slavery is abolished in the U. S.

Description of file(s): PDF 11 page, 3,267 word document (text and images)